Stepping on Najib, Hadi pictures work of small group, say Bersih 4 organisers

Electoral reform group Bersih 2.0 today denounced the action of several individuals who allegedly stepped on the pictures of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang during the Bersih 4 rally over the weekend. Police are reportedly investigating the incident after two Malay papers, Sinar Harian and Utusan Malaysia, posted pictures of several protesters stepping on posters of Hadi and Najib during the rally. "The stepping on pictures was carried out by a small group and not part of the official programme of the Bersih 2.0 organising committee," the Bersih steering committee said in a short statement today. One of Bersih's demands during the rally was for Najib to resign, while Hadi and his party PAS were not part of the rally and did not mobilise support for it, unlike previous Bersih rallies. "It is regrettable that so much attention has been given to this unfortunate incident, instead of focusing on hundreds of thousands of Malaysians who conducted themselves with exemplary maturity and civility," the statement added. The 34-hour rally was conducted over the weekend without any major incident. It was the first Bersih rally without police crackdown compared with the previous three where tear gas and other crowd-control measures were deployed. – September 1, 2015.